Apparatus for wrapping wire on terminals



June 2, 1970 J. o. ETCHISON, JR., ETAL 3,514,835

APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING WIRE 0N TERMINALS Filed D90. 1, 1967 6 Sheets-Sheet l V IN vew 727F757 .J. a. ETCHISUN Jk.

.1: s. TUCKER Ji 9%W/Mo June 2, 1970 J. o. ETCHISON, JR, ETAL 3,514,835

APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING WIRE ON TERMINALS Filed Dec. 1, 1967 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 *J. g-E

June 2, 1970 J. o. ETCHISON, JR., ETAL 3,514,335

APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING WIRE ON TERMINALS Filed Dec. 1. 1967 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 J. o. ETCHISON, JR., ETAL 3,514,835

APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING WIRE ON TERMINALS June 2, 1-970 6 Sheets-Sheet 4- Filed Dec. 1, 1967 June 2, 1970 J. 6. ETCHISON, JR, ETAL 3,514,835

APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING WIRE 0N TERMINALS Filed Dec. 1. 1967 6 Sheets-Sheet s United States Patent O 3,514,835 APPARATUS FOR WRAPPING WIRE N TERMINALS John 0. Etchison, Jr., Clemmons, and John G. Tucker, Winston-Salem, NC, assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 687,186 Int. Cl. B21f /00, 45/00; H01r 9/14 US. Cl. 29203 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for wrapping the ends of a wire on terminals utilizes sleeve loading wrapping tools for capturing the ends of the wire and for stripping the insulation from the ends of the wire. After an end of the wire is captured by a sleeve loading tool, the tool is rotated through an angle to uncover a terminal receiving recess in the end of the tool. The wrapping apparatus also includes a flexible tube for guiding the wire as it is inserted into a pair of wire wrapping tools. After one of the tools has wrapped one end of the Wire on a terminal, the tube is used to guide the wire as it is laid on a terminal board or chassis.

GOVERNMENT CONTRACT The invention herein claimed was made in the course of, or under contract with the US. Army.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the invention The invention concerns an automated apparatus for wrapping the ends of a Wire on terminals on a terminal board or chassis. In the operation of automated wire wrapping apparatus, a section of a wire is fed into one or more wire wrapping tools, whereupon the tool or tools are operated and moved relative to the terminal board to wrap the respective ends of the section of wire on a pair of terminals. The feeding of the section of wire and the capturing of the ends of the wire by the tool or tools must be done quickly with a minimum chance of error.

(2) Description of the prior art The prior art contains many automatic machines which utilize one or more wrapping tools for wrapping the ends of a length of wire on terminals on a terminal board. None of these machines are adaptable to utilize a sleeve loading tool which has the advantage that the wire may be easily and reliably fed into relatively large opening in a sleeve of the tool. In particular, a wire captured by a sleeve loading tool extends over a terminal receiving recess in the tool and the prior art was unable to prevent this from interferring with the placing of the tool on a terminal.

In order to avoid unnecessary complexity in the wire feeding mechanism, two wrapping tools are commonly used, one tool for wrapping each end of the wire. The wire feeding mechanism feeds the wire into each of the tools, and onto the terminal board. Many improvements may be made to the prior art wire feeding mechanisms to improve their reliability and speed of operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, an apparatus for wrapping the ends of a length of wire on terminals utilizes a sleeve loading wrapping tool having a transverse opening in a sleeve for receiving one end of the wire and capturing the one end of wire. Facilities rotate the tool through an angle to uncover a terminal receiving recess Patented June 2, 1970 in the end of the tool, whereupon the tool is placed over a termmal and rotated to wrap the one end of the wire on a terminal.

Another feature of the invention contemplates the util1zation of a flexible tube, one end of which is inserted through a transverse opening in a first of a pair of sleeve BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevation view with a cutout portion showing an apparatus embodying the principles of the invention.

FIG. 2. is a front elevation view of a pair of wire wrapping heads and a wire feeding mechanism which is a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 is a side elevation view of one of the pair of wrapping heads shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an isometric drawing, with cutout portions, of the wire feeding mechanism of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is an elevation view, partly is cross-section, of a sleeve loading wrapping tool.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are elevation views, partly in crosssection, of a pair of wire trapping tools, particularly showing the sequence of operation of the wrapping tools.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are end views of a wrapping tool showing how the tool rotates to uncover the terminal receiving recess in the end of the tool.

FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 are perspective views particularly showing the sequence of operation of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring first to FIG. 1, there is shown an apparatus for making wire connections between various terminals 20 on a terminal board or chassis 21. The terminal board 21 is placed on a table 23 which is movably mounted on a frame 24. A bell-shaped housing 25, rotatably mounted on the frame 24 over the table 23, supports a left wire wrapping head 27, a right wire wrapping head 28 and a wire feeding mechanism 31. The heads 27 and 28 include respective wrapping tools 29 and 30 for Wrapping the respective ends of a wire onto terminals on the terminal board 21. Suitable mechanism (not shown) is provided for indexing the table 23 in X and Y coordinates beneath the housing 25. Also suitable mechanism (not shown) is provided for raising and lowering the respective heads 27 and 28 away from and toward the terminal boards 23. Suitable mechanisms for indexing the table 24 and raising and lowering the heads 27 and 28 are disclosed in an application, Ser. No. 665,110 filed Sept. 1, 1967 by W. D. Bohannon, I r. and H. 0. King and which is assigned to Western Electric Co., Inc. A control console 33, containing suitable numerical control apparatus, is connected in a conventional manner to the wire wrapping apparatus for controlling the operation of the wire wrapping apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 3, the left head 27 has a pair of vertical rods 36 which are slidably mounted in holes through a block 35. A vertical air cylinder 37, mounted in the left head 27 over the block 35, has a piston rod 38 which projects against the top of the block 35. Air is introduced into the cylinder 37 to reduce the gravitational force of the left head 27 upon block 35. Thus, when the block 35 is lowered toward the terminal board 21 by conventional selective indexing facilities (not shown) and the tool 29 wraps a wire onto a terminal 20, the downward force on the wire being wrapped is equal to the difference between the weight of the left head 27 and the force of the piston rod 38 against the block 35. During the wrapping of wire convolutions on the terminal 20, the left head 27 is free to move upwardly with respect to the block 35. An air cylinder 40, mounted on the head 27, has a piston rod 41 having a conical tip which is inserted into a detent 42 in the block 35 for preventing relative vertical movement between the head 27 and the block 35 during feeding of a wire through the tool 29. As shown in FIG. 2, the right head 28 mounted on a movable block 39 which may be selectively placed in a vertical position in the same manner as the left head 27 mounted on the block 35.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and ,3, a 270 rotation air motor 43 which rotates a gear 44 is mounted on the left head 27. The gear 44 drives a pinion 45 mounted on the tool 29. Similarly, the right head 28 has a motor 47 connected to a gear 48 which rotates a pinion 49 mounted on the tool 30. Air is normally admitted to the motor 43 to force a pin 50 (FIG. 3) against a cam 52 which is rotated by a piston rod 53 projecting from an air cylinder 54. The head 28 has a pin 51 (FIG. 2) mounted on the gear 48 which abuts against a cam 57 controlled by an air cylinder 55 and piston rod 56 for determining the radial stopping position of the tool 30. The cams 52 and 57 are shaped such that when the air cylinders 54 and 55 are actuated, the cams 52 and 57 are in first positions to align an opening 60 and a slot 61 (FIG. 6) in the tool 29 and an opening 65 and a slot 66 in the tool 30 with the wire feeding mechanism 31 to allow a wire to be fed through the openings and slots of the tools 29 and 30. When the air cylinders 54 and 55 are deactuated, the pins 50 and 51 are moved by the respective earns 52 and 57 to rotate the gears 44 and 48, pinions 45 and 49, and tools 29 and 30 to uncover terminal receiving recesses in the ends of the tools. For example, see FIGS. 8 and 9 showing how a 90 rotation of tool 30 uncovers a termi nal receiving recess 95 in the end of the tool 30.

As shown in FIG. 5, the wrapping tool 29 includes a sleeve 58 which is vertically slidable over a shaft 59 connected to the pinion 45. The shaft 59 and the sleeve 58 have vertically mating portions (not shown) such that the sleeve 58 is vertically slidable with respect to the shaft 59, but must rotate with the shaft 59. The sleeve 58 has an opening 60 in the side thereof and a slot 61 extending to the lower end of the sleeve 58 opposite to the opening 60. The lower end of the slot 60 terminates into a keyhole-shaped cutting edge 62 for severing the insulation on the wire to be wrapped. The shaft 59 has a longitudinal groove 78 formed in the side thereof and extending to the end thereof for encompassing and guiding a bare end of wire as it is pulled from the groove 78 and wrapped on a terminal. The groove 78 has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of a bare Wire such that the edge 79 of the shaft around the groove cooperates with the keyhole-shaped cutting edge 62 to sever and partially strip the insulation from the end of the wire.

Referring to FIG. 2, an air cylinder 67 is mounted in the head 27 with a piston rod 67a having an arm 67b rotatably connected to the sleeve 58 of the tool 29. When the air cylinder 67 is actuated, the piston rod 67a and arm 67b raise the sleeve 58 with respect to the shaft 59 for severing and stripping the insulation from the end of a wire.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the tool 30 has a sleeve 63 slidably mounted on a shaft 64 in the same manner as the tool 29. The sleeve 63 contains an opening 65 and a slot 66 which are similar to the opening 60 and slot 61 in the sleeve 58. The opening 65 has a keyhole-shaped insulation cutting edge 74 similar to the keyhole-shaped cutting edge 62 of the opening 60. The shaft 64 has a longitudinal groove 69 extending to an edge 93 of the shaft 64 similar to the groove 78 and edge 79 of the shaft 59. Suitable mechanism (not shown) is provided in the head 28 for raising and lowering the sleeve 63 with respect to the shaft 64 in the same manner as the air cylinder 67, piston rod 67a and arm 67b raise and lower the sleeve 58 with respect to the shaft 59 in the head 27. The edge 93 cooperates with the cutting edge 74 to sever and partially strip the insulation from the end of a wire. The shaft 64 also has a longitudinal recess 95 formed in the end thereof for receiving a terminal. The shaft 59 of the tool 29 contains a similar recess (not shown).

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown the mechanism 3.1 for feeding and guiding a wire 68 through the opening and slot 61 of the tool 29 and the opening and slot 66 of the tool 30. The wire 68 is fed from a source (not shown) between two friction wheels 70 and 71 which are mounted within respective housings 72 and 73. The housing 72 is pivotally connected to housing 73 and normally urged by a spring 74 (FIG. 2) against the housing 73 such that the friction wheels 70 and 71 grip the wire 68. The friction wheels 70 and 71 are rotated by a motor 75 to advance the wire 68. An air cylinder 76 is mounted on housing 73 and has a piston rod 77 which abuts against the housing 72 for forcing the housing 72 away from the housing 73 to re lease the wire 68 from the friction wheels 70 and 71.

From the friction wheels 70 and 71, the wire 68 is fed into a flexible tube 80 which is connected to a slidable block 81 mounted on rods 82 connected to the housing 73. The tube 80 extends out of a passageway formed between a wall 83 (FIG 3) in the housing 73 and a guide member 84. The guide member 84 may be retracted by a piston rod 85 extending from an air cylinder 86 mounted in the housing 73 to allow the tube 80 to bend downward between the guide member 84 and the wall 83 (FIG. 3) of the housing 73 against a curved lower floor 87 formed on the housing 73.

Referring to FIG. 2, the position of the tube 80 and the slidable block 81 is controlled by a lever 89 which is pivotally mounted on the housing 25 and which has a slidable and pivotal joint 88 connected to the block 81. An air cylinder 90 mounted on the housing 25 has a iston rod 91 which is pivotally connected to the lever 89 for forcing a cam follower 92 on the lever 89 against a cam 94 which is connected to the block 35 (FIG. 3). Thus, when the air cylinder 90 is actuated and the cam follower 92 abuts the cam 94, the position of the tube 80 is controlled by the cam 94 which follows the movement of the block 35 and left head 27. The cam 94 is formed such that when the air cylinder 90 is actuated, the end of the tube 80 is inserted through the opening 60 and the slot 6.1 in the tool 29 as shown in FIG. 6. During subsequent downward movement of the block 35 and left head 27, the end of the tube 80 remain-s protruding from the slot 61 in the tool 29. The tube 80 is made from a flexible material through which the wire 68 may be easily pushed or pulled.

Referring to FIG. 4, a pair of cutters 96 and 97 are closed by respective cams 98 and 99 connected to the block 81. When the block 81 and tube 80 are retracted by deactuation of the air cylinder 90, the wire 68 is severed by the cams 98 and 99 closing the cutters 96 and 97.

Suitable facilities such as a vacuum duct (not shown) may be provided adjacent to the tools 29 and 30 to remove the stripped insulation.

OPERATION Initially, air is admitted into the air motors 43 and 47 (FIG. 2) to rotate the gears 44 and 48 such that the pins 50 and 51 abut against the respective cams 52 and 57. The heads 27 and 28 are in their raised positions. The head 27 is locked to the block 35 by the operation of the air cylinder 40 to force the end of the piston rod 41 into the detent 42. The head 28 is similarly locked to the block 39. The air cylinders 54 and 55 are actuated so that the cams 52 and 57 position the opening 60 and slot 61 (FIG. 6) in the tool 29 and the opening 65 and slot 66 in the tool 30 in alignment with the tube 80. The block 81 (FIG. 4) is advanced by the actuation of the air cylinder 90 and pivoting of the arm 89 to insert the end of the tube 80 through the opening 60 and the slot 61 of the tool 29 as shown in FIG. 6. During the advancement of the tube 80, the guide 84 is held against the wall 83 of the housing 73 to guide the tube 80 (see FIG. 3).

Subsequently, the motor 75 is actuated to rotate the friction wheels 70 and 71 to feed the wire through the tube 80 into the opening 65 and slot 66 (FIG. 6) of the tool 30. At this time, as shown in FIG. '7, the sleeve 63 is moved upwardly with respect to the shaft 64, whereupon the insulation on the end of the wire 86 is severed by the cooperation of keyhole-shaped cutting edge 74 on the sleeve 63 and the edge 93 of the groove 69 in the shaft 64.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, the wire extends over the recess 95 in the end of the shaft 64 of the tool 30 after the end of the wire has been stripped. The cam 57 (FIG. 2) is rotated by the piston rod 56 extending from the air cylinder 55 such that the pinion 49 is rotated through an angle to rotate the tool 30 and uncover the recess 95 in the end of the shaft 64 as shown in FIG. 9. The uncovering of the recess 95 allows a terminal to be received in the recess 95 without restriction.

Next, the block 84 is retracted (FIG. 10) to allow the tube 80 to bend and the friction wheels 70 and 7.1 separated to allow free movement of the wire 68. The head 28 is released from the block 39 and the block 39 is lowered to lower the head 28 and tool 30 over a terminal whereupon the terminal is received within the recess 95 in the end of the shaft 64 as shown in FIG. 10. Simultaneously therewith, the block 35 is lowered to lower the head 27 and tool 29 to an intermediate position above the terminals on the terminal board such that the tube 80 bends against the floor 87 in the housing 73. During the lowering of the heads 27 and 28, the cam 94 cooperates with the cam follower 92 to advance the tube 80 such that the tube 80 remains projecting through the opening 60 from the slot 61 in the tool 29. The lowering of the heads 27 and 28 also pulls additional wire between the released feeding wheels 70 and 71 (FIG. 4). The tool 30 is then rotated to wrap the stripped end of the wire 68 onto the terminal.

After the tool 30 has wrapped the end of the wire 68 onto the terminal, the head 28 and tool 30 are raised. With the head 27 and tool 29 remaining in their intermediate vertical positions, the table 23 is indexed to lay the wire 68 in a path on the terminal board 21 as shown in FIG. 11. As the table 23 is indexed, wire is easily pulled from the tube 80 and wire feeding mechanism 31 between the feeding wheels 70 and 71. Alternately, the feeding mechanism 31 may be actuated to push the wire through the tube 80. During the feeding of the Wire, the end of the tube 80 remains projecting from the slot 61 in the tool 29 to direct the wire 68 toward the terminal board 2.1 during the laying of the wire on the terminal board 21.

When the table 23 is indexed to position a desired terminal adjacent to the tool 29, the head 27 is released from the block 35 by deactuation of the air cylinder 40 (FIG. 3). The air cylinder 90 (FIG. 2) is deactuated to retract the tube 80 from the slots in the tool 29 and to move the cutters 96 and 97 (FIG. 4) to sever the wire 68. The sleeve 58 on the tool 29 is raised with respect to the shaft 59 whereupon the cutting edge 62 on the sleeve 58 cooperates with the edge 79 on the shaft 59 to sever and partially strip the insulation on the severed end of the wire 68. The tool 29 is rotated through an angle by movement of the cam 52 to uncover the terminal receiving recess (not shown) in the end of the shaft 59. The table 23 is indexed to position the terminal directly underneath the tool 29 whereupon the block 35 is lowered to lower the head 27 to place the tool 29 over the desired terminal as shown in FIG. 12. The tool 29 is then rotated by the air motor 43 to wrap the severed end of the wire 86 onto the desired terminal.

It is to be understood that the above-described embodiment is simply illustrative of the principles of the invention-and that many embodiments may be devised without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wrapping respective ends of the wire on first and second terminals on a terminal board comprising:

first and second elongated wrapping tools, each having a transverse opening therethrough and a recess in one end thereof;

a flexible tube;

means for moving the tube relative to the first and second tools to insert one end of the tube through the opening in the first tool and place the one end of the tube in proximity to the Opening in the second tool;

means for feeding one end of an indeterminate length of wire through the tube into the opening in the second tool; means for longitudinally moving the first and second tools toward the terminal board such that the second terminal is received in the recess of the second tool;

means responsive to the longitudinally moving means for advancing the tube to maintain the protrusion of the tube from the opening in the first tool as the first tool moves toward the terminal board;

means for rotating the second tool to wrap the one end of wire onto the second terminal;

means for moving the terminal board relative to the first tool such that wire is fed from the tube and laid on the terminal board from the second terminal to the first terminal;

means for actuating the tube moving means to retract the tube from the opening in the first tool and sever the wire; and

means for operating the first tool to wrap the severed end of wire on the first terminal.

2. An apparatus for wrapping respective ends of a 'wire on first and second terminals on a terminal board comprising:

first and second elongated members, each having a recess at one end for receiving a terminal;

first and second sleeves slidably mounted on the respective first and second members, each sleeve having a longitudinal slot extending to the one end of the sleeve and having an opening opposite the slot;

a flexible tube;

means for moving the tube relative to the first and second sleeves to insert one end of the tube through the opening and slot in the first sleeve and place the one end of the tube in proximity to the slot in the second sleeve;

means for feeding one end of an indeterminate length of wire through the tube into the slot and opening in the second sleeve;

means for moving the second member relative to the second sleeve such that the one end of the second member engages the wire and moves the engaged portion of the wire to the one end of the second sleeve to capture the one end of the wire between the second member and the inner longitudinal wall of the second sleeve extending from the opening to the one end of the second sleeve whereupon the wire extends across the one end of the second member over the recess therein;

means for rotating the second member and second sleeve through an are about a longitudinal axis such that the wire does not extend over the recess in the second member;

means for longitudinally moving the first and second sleeves together with the first and second members toward the terminal board such that the second terminal is received in the recess of the second member;

means responsive to the longitudinally moving means for advancing the tube to maintain the position of the tube in the opening in the first sleeve as the first sleeve and first member move toward the terminal board;

means for rotating the second member and second sleeve to wrap the one end of Wire onto the second terminal;

means for moving the terminal board relative to the first sleeve and first member such that wire is fed from the tube and laid on the terminal board from the second terminal to the first terminal;

means for actuating the tube moving means to retract the tube from the slot and opening in the first sleeve and to sever the wire;

means for moving the first member relative to the first sleeve such that the one end of the first member engages the wire and moves the engaged portion of the wire to the one end of the first sleeve to capture the severed end of the wire between the first member and the inner longitudinal Wall of the first sleeve extending from the opening to the one end of the first sleeve whereupon the wire extends across the one end of the first member over the recess therein;

means for rotating the first member and first sleeve through an are such that the wire does not extend over the recess in the first member;

means for moving the first member and first sleeve such that the first terminal is received in the recess of the first member; and

means for rotating the first member and first sleeve to wrap the severed end of wire onto the first terminal.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 2 which includes:

a severing tool for severing the Wire; and wherein the tube moving means includes a cam for operating the severing tool when the tube moving means retracts the tube from the opening in the first sleeve.

References Cited CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner E. M. COMBS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

